Weighing only a little less than his latest book [b:Imperial|5719302|Imperial|William T. Vollmann|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255616230s/5719302.jpg|5890919], Argall is Vollmann's 746-page retelling of the "true story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith -- though by "true" Vollmann refers to what he calls a "Symbolic History", and that the facts contained within are "often untrue based on the literal facts as we know them, but whose untruths further a deeper sense of truth." I can't claim to be any good arbiter of the ethics behind this, only to note that it's fiction, after all, and that Smith, as meticulous a chronicler as he was, was guided by ideological and commercial considerations just like anyone.

And indeed, Argall is perhaps closer to that "deeper sense of truth" in the sense that it's stubbornly, refreshingly, anti-Romantic. (Smith himself barely mentions that famous incident -- enshrined in elementary schools all across America, at least in the pre-Howard Zinn days -- when Pocahontas supposedly saves Smith from execution, and so Vollmann similarly glosses over it.) One can imagine Argall almost as the dark twin of Terrence Malick's film "The New World" (my favorite film of the last decade). Where Malick's vision of America is precisely to embrace the myth and the promise, in all its swooning, idyllic, but haunted, glory, Vollmann's rendition is the opposite, a dense thicket of a nightmare: brutish, ugly, miserable, shit-streaked, and in the end, deeply, quietly, tragic.

And did I write that it's all written in barely penetrable Elizabethan English, complete with variant orthographies, italics and font sizes whirling out of control, florid introductions and epigraphs, and almost a hundred pages of endnotes and glossaries? What at first looks like literary grandstanding gives way to a slow immersion into a Language peppered with unexpected moments of rapture. Paradoxically, the distance created by the prose makes the events even more unbearable. (I do wish we heard more from our good narrator William the Blind, whose rare atemporal interruptions are very welcome, as it shocks the reader momentarily out of the muck and into some sort of self-recognition.)

So read it all, if you can, even the endnotes; if anything, the latter provides a fascinating, if somewhat daunting, glimpse into Vollmann's indefatigable capacity for historical research. I'm happy to wander down any digressive garden path Vollmann wishes to lead me, in any case. ( )

This novel couldn't be more different than the last Vollmann novel I recently finished, The Lucky Star. Yet, Vollmann pulls them both off with equal aplomb. In fact, although I enjoyed "The Lucky Star" more, "Argall", is assuredly a much more amazing work of art. Vollmann tirelessly conveys the sad and brutal story of the early English conquest of North America and the concurrent genocide of its native inhabitants. What's more, he does so in the English idiom of the time. Truly amazing. As you might expect, not a happy read. Yet, something that needs to be experienced.
I understand that some readers find Vollmann a bit too verbose and in need of editing. I am not one of those readers but I would caution readers not to expect a page-turner. It's not one of those, thankfully. ( )

Argall! The third of the seven dreams, and the fourth that I've read. By now I'm fully committed to this series, as every book has been solid, and very different in style. So far The Rifles stands as my favourite book of the series, and also my favourite book by Vollmann. It also may just be my most favourite book.

I would rank Argall as possibly my least favourite of the four dreams, but note that I still really liked this book. It just so happens that Fathers & Crows was incredible, and The Ice Shirt was also fantastic. So you know, steep competition.

The first part, and the majority of Argall, follows John Smith, often facetiously referred to as Sweet John. The whole tone of this book is sort of facetious, or sarcastic... or something along those lines. This book, more than any of the others, is mostly from the point of view of the Europeans (Sweet John, Argall/Argull/Arkill, John Rolfe, etc.) and as such takes their sides on all matters - but again, this is done in jest.
John wants adventure, and will find it damnit, and will possibly lie about it later when he writes of them in his True Travels. He reads his Machiavelli in order to guarantee his meeting with Captain Fortune. After a failed romance and then fighting the Turkes and being captured (and another possible failed romance), and a bunch of other happenings, John is off to Virginia! Remember Roanoke.

John is captured and almost killed, but the great Powhatan's daughtor Amonute/Pocahontus/(and later)Rebecca saves him - and as imagined in this dream - because she finds him curious and wants him as a play-thing (but not in a creepy way...)
The colonists are awful at feeding themselves, so they go about getting the Indians to feed them... which understandably grows sour over time.

Eventually John is out of the story as he has an accident with some gun powder and is sent to England.

Our titular character Argall arrives (or did he arrive earlier?) Argall is given an almost mystical persona in this book...and I don't really understand why... but it was fun, so who am I to question? Argall is essentially a dastardly pirate, and eventually kidnaps Pocahontas in order to get the Indians to be obedient to the colonists. I really enjoyed this part of the book, about Pocahontas and the Reverand and John Rolfe. It's sad, obviously. Pocahontas becomes Rebecca and marries Rolfe.

Eventually Argall, Rebecca and Rolfe travel to England, and Rebecca and John have a last meeting, and then Rebecca dies.

Then some further history of Virginia (which was quite good) and so ends the tale.

Was all of that spoiler? Can we have spoilers in historical fiction?

The old-english style that this book was written in was annoying for possibly the first 100 pages, and then my brain just gave over and I didn't even notice it. It helps, I think, in reminding us that, having taken the colonists point of view for the majority of this book, he isn't being sincere when he feels sorry for the starving incompetant Europeans, or when he hails their victories against the Salvages.

Some highlights are: almost any of the many massacres - from both sides - that take place; Powhatan's memories of Amonute when she was a child; every section that Pocahontis is in...; and William the Blinds blind devotion to Captain Argall.

I wish this book had more of Vollmann's incredible prose on the natural landscape or people's thoughts... This book was a lot of "this happened, then this happened", instead of ruminating on it all with dense beautiful lyrical prose, as he does a lot more in The Ice Shirt and The Rifles.
I also wish this book had more of Vollmann's interuptions from the present to give his 5 cents. I love those 5 cents...

Anyways, great book from a great series. I still can't believe these have been written, and are still being written and published. What an undertaking.

Start from the very beginning, and read in order of publication, is my suggestion if you are wanting to dig in. ( )

Another massive installment of the Seven Dreams series. Anti-romantic. The ornate Elizabethan style reminds one of Mason and Dixon, which is also excellent, but wholly different in tone. ( )

http://www.sfsite.com/10b/ar162.htm ( )